Rocket Boys

Rating:
Summary: Prodigious!
Review: A splendid book! I recommend it to anyone who can read. I first read Homer Hickam's article in Air&Space magazine a couple of years ago. His book has far surpassed its promise. I hope he has more to tell us about his later years in Vietnam and with NASA.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic - Loved every minute I spent reading Rocket Boys
Review: My wife gave Rocket Boys to me for Christmas...best gift she has ever given me. From the trials and tribulations of the relationships between Sonny and his father and mother to his adolescent doubts about his abilities to his obvious love for his hometown, its people, and his teachers this book should be a MUST READ for teenagers and adults alike. Mr. Hickam has a great talent of telling a story from a teenage boy's perspective. It touched me deeply. I am certainly going to read it again and have asked my teenage twin boys to read it. BUY THE BOOK and READ IT!

Rating:
Summary: "The Education of Little Tree" + 50 years
Review: I recommend Forrest Carter's "The Education of Little Tree" to every teenager I talk to and I'll be adding Hickam's "Rocket Boys" to that recommendation. Times and towns are different now from either of those described in these books, but the difficulties, uncertainties, and travails of the teenage years remain much the same. I hope for the confidence, curiosity, and perseverance of the young Hickam for my own sons and daughters.

Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT
Review: I was inspired to read this book when I saw the preview for the movie October Skies. This was an excellent book about a teenager with a dream who did not want to follow in his father's footsteps. A book about the dawn of the space age, unions, and growing up in the 1950s. This is the first time in a while, that I read over 300 pages in two days. I urge everybody to read this excellent book

Rating:
Summary: Very Enjoyable
Review: A nostalgic view of a young boy fascinated by rockets. I laughed at some of the descriptions of failed launches and sympathised with his description of family life in a small coal mining town. One of the most enjoyable books that I've read this year. I'll pass it on to my friends.

Rating:
Summary: What a story! Family, union, company... and rockets.
Review: This book kept me up late. It's a tightly woven memoir about a family... a coal company... a union... high-school in the 50's... and boys messing about with very dangerous explosive materials. I wish I'd read this when I was 16 instead of 43. I feel it might have changed my life. Perhaps it has now anyway. I recommend it highly.

Rating:
Summary: Great book about life in mining towns in WV in 70's Loved it
Review: I have been reading for over 30 years and this book really captured my heart. I was raised in the town it was written in and it really brings back good memories of being raised in a coal camp.The details of how coal ruled everyones lives and how the boys raised above this and everyones expatations of it (except his mother)was the best part. If you were were born and raised in a coal camp you "must" read this, if not, you need to read it to see what a great life it was to be part of the coming of age as coal used to be. A very moving book of the hardships of growing up in a "town in a town" as Coalwood used to be(dependent upon no one but itself).

Rating:
Summary: sail me to the bookstore.
Review: If you've ever launched a model rocket, blown up a GIJoe, or been a little pyro ( hey, I did all that...) then you've gottttta get this book. Tons of flashbacks to my childhood,and the ppl at work thought I was nuts, laughing so often :) I do wish it went further into his life, but the title says it all- it's about the spark getting the engine turning, not about where the car went after...

Rating:
Summary: Reminded me of my own youth!
Review: To make a statement like "I couldn't put it down" might seem quaint and overused when describing books- but that was the very true reality for this book! I built model rockets while I as growing up, and time & time again I could picture myself at the same launching area- the same blockhouse- the same parents- it reminded me of both the good times and the not-so-good times of my youth. Don't get caught up in the technical 'stuff'. I enjoyed it!

Rating:
Summary: Beau Bridges is wonderful and so is this book
Review: I bought this book and listened to it driving across country. I laughed out loud again and again and it put me in such a wonderful mood. This story of six boys who challenged a little coal town to be great is inspiring, witty, and purely marvelous. Recommended highly.